报告题目：Tailoring Multifunctional Materials for Sustainable Catalysis
报 告 人：Lili Zhang，A*STAR
时 间：2024年11月25日09:30
地 点：莫干山校区化工5号楼B306
报告摘要：
Multifunctional catalysts with atomically dispersed active centers have been designed. However, how to construct active catalytic sites with precisely defined coordination environments having favorable electronic structures at the atomic level remains challenging. What’s more challenging is how to mass-produce advanced catalysts with highly dispersed active centers. Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with symmetric charge distribution are not electron-conducting and thus limit the transfer rates. Therefore, breaking the symmetry of electronic density by axially introducing an additional coordinating atom shall improve the catalytic performance. We describe how we achieved multifunctional catalysts with asymmetric electronic structures that lead to good catalytic performance for CO2 reduction and water splitting. In addition, we show how we produced advanced catalysts through a high throughput mechanochemistry method. Ni-N4-O coordination abundantly anchored on high-surface nitrogen-doped porous graphitic carbon was designed and synthesized. In-depth experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the axial M-O coordination introduces asymmetry to the catalytic center, leading to lower Gibbs free energy for the rate-limiting step, stronger binding with *COOH, and weaker association with *CO in CO2 reduction. Another SAC achieved electronic regulation of Co active center by near-range coordination with N and long-range interaction with S and exhibited excellent and stable trifunctional electrocatalytic activity for water splitting. The demonstrated strategies can be applied to make various asymmetrically coordinated SACs (M-N4-O/S) to enrich the family of SACs for various catalytic applications.
报告人简介：
Dr. Lili Zhang is Director of the emerging technologies division at A*STAR’s Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2). Lili is trained in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from National University of Singapore (NUS) and The University of Texas at Austin. She was a process engineer in Micron Semiconductor before her PhD. Dr. Zhang expertise in green catalysis, electrocatalysis, carbon utilization, waste upcycling, H2 production, carbon-based materials and their applications in energy storage and catalysis. She is Global Highly Cited Researcher. Dr. Zhang’s research has led to more than 100 publications on high-impact international peer-reviewed journals with more than 25,000 citations (H-index: 57, by Web of Science). She received the Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer Award by the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan (SCEJ), 2023.
